While Northern California may be best known for our wine, craft beer making is big and new breweries are popping up all the time here in the San Francisco Bay Area. New craft beer-focused restaurants, beer bars, and beer stores are also working to share these local brews with the world.

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Craft Beer Breweries

Cassie Kifer

Here is a guide to all the breweries crafting beer in San Jose and Silicon Valley. Many of these breweries offer growler fills so you can take a few pints to enjoy at home.

If you want some barbecue with your beer, check out Campbell Brewing Company, a smokehouse and brewery restaurant in downtown Campbell. They currently offer six of their own beers and a selection of guest taps from breweries around California.

A brewery and restaurant offering traditional European-style beers and a full menu, and live music on Friday and Saturday nights. The restaurant is open Monday through Saturday. Happy hour is Monday through Friday, 3:30-6pm

The Gordon Biersch team started brewing German-style ales, pilsners, and lagers in Palo Alto, back in 1988. The, now international, company currently has 35 restaurants in the U.S. and four in Taiwan. Their brewery and bottling plant is still located in Silicon Valley (in Downtown San Jose's Japantown), but it is only open to the public for selected annual events.

The Half Moon Bay Brewing Company offers traditional and unique brews just a stone’s throw from the legendary Mavericks surf spot. Two of their current beers are fundraisers to benefit Not For Sale, a nonprofit that works against human trafficking worldwide. The brewery strives to be a center of community life in the coastal village, and hosts Brews & Views, a monthly event featuring speakers and/or documentary film focused on politics and social issues.

Happy hour goes from lunch to dinner in the bar, Monday through Friday, 11am-6pm.

Hermitage Brewing Company brews up about dozen robust and flavorful beers including the hop enthusiast's Hoptopia, and their varietal-focused single hop brews. Hermitage is the sister brewery of Mountain View's Tied House and you can taste both brands on tap at the brewery.

Taproom is open Wednesday through Sunday, check the website for hours.

A great stop on any drive down the Silicon Valley coast. The Highway 1 Brewing Company is 7 miles south of Pescadero on Highway 1. The Highway 1 Brewing Company offers about a dozen of their own craft brews and guest taps from other Bay Area and Santa Cruz-based craft brewers and cider makers.

While purists will argue this isn't a true craft brewery because it's owned and operated by the national grocer, Whole Foods Market, they do have an attractive two-story downtown taproom and do brew their beers on-site. The Downtown San Jose location was the Whole Foods brand's first on-site brewery in California. Their second-floor taproom features nineteen rotating taps ofcraft beer, wine, & cider and a short food menu.

Strike Brewing Company is known for their low-alcohol "session" beers--the kind you can enjoy a few of while watching a sporting event. The brewery's founder, Drew Ehrlich, used to be a pitcher for Stanford University’s baseball team, which inspired this brewing interest and baseball-themed branding.

The tap room is open Wednesday through Sunday, check the website for hours. Brewery tours are available for groups of 10 or more, by appointment. Food trucks come out to the brewery each Friday.

Taplands is a brewery, tasting room, and bottle shop offering over 20 different craft beers on tap, more than 50 bottles, and growler fills. The tasting room also offers a kitchen with homemade snacks, sandwiches, and salads.

The tasting room is open Tuesdays through Sundays.

The Tied House

954 Villa Street, Mountain View, CA

The Tied House is the oldest microbrewery in the South Bay and a favorite brewpub in Downtown Mountain View. While Tied House no longer brewed on-site in Mountain View, they do still brew locally in San Jose at their sister brewery, Hermitage Brewing Company.

The pub is open seven days a week, serving full menus and both Tied House and Hermitage Brewing Company beers. The Tied House has two happy hours (Monday through Friday), one at lunch (11:30 am to 1 pm) and one at dinner (4 pm to 6 pm).

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Craft Beer Bars and Brewpubs

Cassie Kifer

Silicon Valley has a large and growing number of beer-focused bars where you can enjoy dozens of craft beers from California and around the world. Here are a few of my personal favorites.

Original Gravity has 35 taps of beer on tap and dozens more available by the bottle. They have two bars and an outdoor beer garden out behind the store. The bar has a good selection of beer food including sausages, duck fat fries, and sandwiches.

An industrial-looking beer bar and bottle shop in downtown San Jose. They have 40 taps and hundreds of craft beers, ciders, and meads in their refrigerator section. ISObeers doesn't serve food but you are allowed to bring food in to enjoy with your beers.

A Downtown San Carlos beer bar and bottle shop with 25 rotating craft beers on top with more than 100 bottles to drink in store or to take home.

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Craft Beer Stores and Bottle Shops

Cassie Kifer

While your average corner liquor store will carry a few craft beers, real beer nerds stock up at dedicated beer stores or corner stores that are known to stock wide selections of craft brews. Here are a few local favorites.